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XP Power closes out trading year with strong fourth quarter
Critical power control components developer and manufacturer XP Power had a "good finish" to its trading year ended 31 December, as strong order intake drove robust revenue growth.
Order intake in the three months to the end of December came to £46.8m, a 24% year-on-year increase that boosted annual order intake 38% to £184.3m on a constant currency basis.
Fourth quarter revenue came in 16% ahead of the same period a year earlier at £43.2m, bringing total yearly revenue to £167m, a 29% year-on-year increase.
Trading over at Comdel, acquired by XP Power for $23m on 29 September, was in line with the group's pre-acquisition expectations, with fourth quarter orders totalling £5.8m, 101% ahead of the figures posted over the same period twelve months prior.
Following the Comdel acquisition, net debt was £10.1m as of 31 December, compared to a net cash position of £3.6m a year earlier.
XP Power paid a dividend of 18p per share for its third trading quarter on 11 January and was expecting to pay a further amount, to be announced on 1 March along with its final results, of no less than 28p per share for the last 12 weeks of 2017.
"We are encouraged by the continued strong order intake experienced across the business during the second half of 2017 and the overall book to bill level for the year. We enter 2018 with positive momentum and therefore expect to grow orders and revenue in 2018 above that in 2017."
At 1145 GMT, the shares were up 2.18% to 3,709p.